Anime of the month is...|
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Buds
Anime of the month is...
Ronin Warriors(Yoroiden Samurai Troopers)
I'm not even going to bother with Japanese names, but I will use some of the terms.
Ronin Warriors is an awesome anime focused mainly around five boys who have mystical armors. 
The legend says that 1000 years ago Talpa, the emperor of the Youja-kai(netherworld), came to this world to take over and pretty much kill everyone but he was stopped by a great warrior. He took Talpa's great armor and broke it into nine different armors, each given a different virtue. Four of these armors were the seasonals, and fiver were elementals(in a sense.) The seasonal armors are known as the Warlord armors they were reclaimed by Talpa in the 16th century. The five elemental armors are known as the Ronin armors. In our time Talpa comes to Toyama, Japan, to finish what he started and get back the rest of his armor. The Ronins have to learn how to work together in order to defeat Talpa, the four Warlords and Talpa's army of Youja.
The Ronins learn how to combine their powers to summon the armor of Inferno. The armor the Harol (not sure if that's spelled right) the warrior who defeated Talpa.
The Ronins(in the dubbed series) are as follows:
Ryo Sanada - (The one with black hair) Ryo is the unofficial(?) leader of the Ronins. He owns Whiteblaze, the large White tiger that is often seen in the series. Ryo has the armor of Wildfire, the fire element(duh) with the virtue of Goodness. When the Ronins combine their power Ryo is the one that wears the Inferno.
Sage Date(pronounced Da - te, not like movie date) - (The one with blonde hair)Sage is often called a flirt, but he is more formal than the other Ronins, he is often seen meditating and is a wonderful swordsman. Based on his calm personality it is a bit out of place that his other hobby is racing(cars). He has the armor of Halo, the element of Spirit or light, with the virtue of Grace(wisdom in the dubbed).
Rowen Hashiba - (The one in blue with blue hair - I'm going counterclockwise on the picture above BTW) Rowen is the brain behind the team. In the early season Talpa called him the most dangerous because he was the smartest. But just because you have brains doesn't mean you have common sense. He was the one that was suprised when 'Lady Kayura' was a girl. 'Waking up early' for Rowen is 11 or later because he often stays up late at night reading. He has the armor of Strata, the air armor, with the virtue of Intellegence(life in the dubbed).
Cye Mouri - (Brown hair) Cye is often nicknamed fish-boy by fans or his best friend Kento(the guy in orange), hense the fish in the picture. Cye is pretty girly, he doesn't like to fight, he's very shy and his hobbies include cooking, cleaning, and flower arranging. He is the oldest of the five Ronins and is usual seen playing peacemaker. Cye has the armor of Torrent, and based on his personality it's easy to tell that Torrent is the water armor, with the virtue of Trust(that is the dubbed, not sure if the subbed is different).
Kento Rei Faun - Kento isn't fat, he's big boned; or so he claims several times in the series. He is actually almost pure muscle, which fits considering he is the warrior of Strength. Kento loves to eat, which is probably why he gets along with Cye so well. His uncle owns a Chinese restrerant in China Town New York. This worked out well for the Ronins in the first movie when they had to go the New York to rescue Sage.(opps, let the cat outta the bag on that one hehe...) Kento has the armor of Hardrock, the element of Earth, with the virtue of justice(that is the dubbed, not sure if the subbed is different, I know he has the armor symbol of stength).
During the series the Ronins are helped out by two normal people. Mia Koji, the Auburn haired professor of Mythology at Tokyo University, and Yulie Yamano, a young boy whose parents were taken by Talpa when he came to the city. With out Mia the Ronins would probably still be arguing at the first battle. She helped them learn how to work together; she also lets them freeload at her mansion, and she provides all the information she can on the armors. When they started out none of the Ronins knew anything about the armors. Yulie, in my opinion, is just around to get in the way(that might be 'cause I don't like him, most fangirls think he's annoying.) Though, I admit, he does help out several times later in the series. Most of the time the two just get used as hostages by the Warlords. The other person who helps the Ronins out a lot is the Ancient One. He was the guy who made the nine armors, even though he dies halfway through the series while helping the Ronin he continues guideing them through their dreams.
The Warlords are all over 400 years old. They fell into Talpa's hands and he used them as puppets. The Warlords include: Anubis(Auburn hair,) Sekhmet(Green Hair,) Kale(Blue Hair,) and Dais(One Eye, White hair.) Anubis was the leader of the Warlords, even though he was the youngest. He was the first of the Warlords to turn against Talpa. He turned on Talpa after the Ancient One died. In the second season he takes the Ancient One's place and helps the Ronins defeat Talpa. He had the Armor of Cruelty, the Spring armor with the virtue of Loyality. Sekhmet was the third Warlord to turn on Talpa. He has the armor of Venom, the Summer armor with the virtue of Piety. Kale was Talpa's most obedient warrior so he was the last to turn on him. He has the armor of Corruption, also known as the armor of Darkness, the winter armor with the virtue of obedience. Dais is the oldest of the Warlords and also the calmest and the only one that doesn't seem to hate Anubis. In the original battles he was the only one that didn't imidiatly get his ass kicked. He actually took out three of the Ronins (none of the other Warlords can say that.) He was the second Warlord to turn on Talpa, he has the armor of Illusion, the autumn armor with the virtue of Serenity.
(not sure what any of the subbed Warlord virtues are)
At the end of the series Anubis dies saving Kayura(who I'm about to tell you about.) And it turned out that the Warlords were almost like family, the picture above is of them mourning his death.
Kayura is the last member of the Ancient One's Clan. Talpa was afriad of the Ancient so he slaughter Kayura's village, kidnapped her, brainwashed her and had her fight for him. She was a much better fighter than any of the Warlords, and the sad thing is that she beat ALL of the Ronins in a fight, at the same time!! She was Talpa's right hand warrior and after seeing the Warlords fail in defeating the Ronins so many times Talpa sent her out. Her power is about equal to that of the Inferno armor. One of my favorite of her quotes was "How disgusting, never send a Warlord to do a lady's job." She was under the control of Talpa's head priest, Badamon, at the end of ther series. In order to free her mind Anubis 'gave' her his armor, this killed him almost instantly. The armors sustained the Warlord's lives, but as Mia said 'The armors do not live for the warrior, it is the Warrior who lives for the armor.' Or something like that, it's been a while. Kayura doesn't have an armor, but she does have the Startlight swords.
Talpa is the Red-faced guy, the Ancient One is wearing the hat.
In the end the Ronins win and Kayura and the remaining Warlords return to the Youja-kai. But that's hardly the end of their troubles. The Ronin Warriors have three OAVs/movies. The first movie, Gaiden, is about their little trip to New York(They finally released the OAVs in English!! I have the first two!!), the second, which the dubbers call 'The Legend of the Inferno Armor' but I can't remember the name of for the life of me, sends them to Africa, where they find the owner of the Black Inferno. And the Thrid, Message, is where they get their new armors.
About Episode Two-
Now every Ronin Warriors fan knows that the dubbing of episode two is horrible. It sounds like the Sensui of each of the characters just up and swiched places. I can tell you why, I looked it up. Almost the entire cast has Streaped Throat the week the episode was supposed to have been recorded. They put it off as long as they could but deadlines prevealed and they had to record anyway.
KB's Opinion!
Ronin Warriors is a wonderful anime. The graphics are a little lacking in the beginning and the dubbed version of episode two is horrible(every Ronin fan knows this) but what series is perfect at the very start? I personally like the OAV Gaiden because of the wonderful plot and deep new female character. My favorite characters would have to be Dais and Kayura. I like the way Dais always keeps his cool, of course he'd have to since his virtue is Serenity. I like Kayura because of the girl power factor and her attitude, even though her laugh is really annoying. My all time favorite of her quotes are:
"oooo... and now are the big, strong, Ronin Warriors going to give me the thrashing I deserve? Two against one hardly seems fair, perhaps if I just use one hand." - When she was about to fight Ryo and Rowen.
"I guess I should be considerate and let you get in a couple of good licks, then it can't be said you gave up without a struggle." - Talking to Rowen.
"... And the last little Ronin was blown away, and then there were none." - Still talking to Rowen.
(Yeah I know I'm supposed to root for the good guys, but the bads guys are the cool people......)
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